The death of arcade racers

[hazys]

So this is something I've been wondering about for a while, and I don't really have an answer for.

"Arcade-style" racing games seem to have fallen off the face of the Earth over the last decade or so. We used to have series like Burnout, Ridge Racer, Need for Speed, OutRun, etc. As recently as the 2000s some of these were considered system sellers. But over the last few years these games have stopped releasing, or attempts to bring them back have been mixed at best. What we're left with is casual/party racing games (like Mario Kart) on one end, and realistic driving sims (like Gran Turismo) on the other. The only market that seems to service this audience is indies with titles like Hotshot Racing and Horizon Chase Turbo.

Did gamers just lose interest in the racing genre? I thought it was a multi-player issue, but fighting games have made a strong comeback. Attempts have been made to add "open-world" and "RPG" elements to racing games, which have largely failed. Why do you think this genre lost so much relevance?

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I have noticed it, too... But Trackmania seems to still be going strong.

That said, I can't even remember the last time someone was openly excited for the new NFS or GT to be released. And it sucks so much.

 

[ayen57]

yes indeed ,i miss the days when arcade racers where the thing ,poping off right and left .BLUR -SPLIT SECOND-MOTOR STORM are now lost to time since they were commercial failures, unlike the GT and NFS

 

[dropsmegamega]

I think they just don't how to make these properly anymore

 

[Clippy]

I wouldn't say the genre is completely dead. Wreckfest and Trail Out exist and they're enjoying some success. I'd say if there's anything killing arcade racers it's the endless pursuit of realism and lifelike graphics that the industry seems to be stuck in. The AAA segment forgot that games are meant to be fun first and foremost. Now it's all the stupid metrics like player retention and 'how do we get them to spend more money for less product' that are the focus. That's what you get when you let joyless paper pushers take over and get rid of people who made games they themselves wanted to play.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Hard to say, but I wouldn't say that it's dead but rather not many will make it or even if they do, it won't be as well known

It still exists though, for example like Victory Heat Rally. The game itself is like those arcade games that I've played in the mall back in the day, the visuals are charming…10/10

 

[BubblegumAthena]

I think it's probably just changing trends, fighting games also briefly lost their huge popularity in the late mid-2000s, and even then the genre wasn't completely dead either and even had some good franchises established in that time.

 

[Tonberry]

So this is something I've been wondering about for a while, and I don't really have an answer for.

"Arcade-style" racing games seem to have fallen off the face of the Earth over the last decade or so. We used to have series like Burnout, Ridge Racer, Need for Speed, OutRun, etc. As recently as the 2000s some of these were considered system sellers. But over the last few years these games have stopped releasing, or attempts to bring them back have been mixed at best. What we're left with is casual/party racing games (like Mario Kart) on one end, and realistic driving sims (like Gran Turismo) on the other. The only market that seems to service this audience is indies with titles like Hotshot Racing and Horizon Chase Turbo.

Did gamers just lose interest in the racing genre? I thought it was a multi-player issue, but fighting games have made a strong comeback. Attempts have been made to add "open-world" and "RPG" elements to racing games, which have largely failed. Why do you think this genre lost so much relevance?

I feel like this for just about every single spots adjacent game.
There are no Fifa/NBA street games, Jam games, SSX, Tony Hawk or anything like that anymore. It’s just about all simulators now, or light simulators like Forza Horizon.
Even wrestling games have lost a lot of what made them fun and goofy, and now they just play like stiff simulators.

 

[hazys]

I wouldn't say the genre is completely dead. Wreckfest and Trail Out exist and they're enjoying some success. I'd say if there's anything killing arcade racers it's the endless pursuit of realism and lifelike graphics that the industry seems to be stuck in. The AAA segment forgot that games are meant to be fun first and foremost. Now it's all the stupid metrics like player retention and 'how do we get them to spend more money for less product' that are the focus. That's what you get when you let joyless paper pushers take over and get rid of people who made games they themselves wanted to play.

I think that may be a problem for arcade racers; they haven't found the right formular to retain players the same way fighting games have. No one is going to get excited about "car DLC."

But this also ties into my pet theory on the topic, which is just that the average kid/teen is no longer invested in sports cars or the fantasy of "driving really fast." It just doesn't appeal to young people like it did in the 90s or 2000s. Thus you get Mario Kart for the casual set and Gran Turismo for the boomers, but very little in-between.

I think it's probably just changing trends, fighting games also briefly lost their huge popularity in the late mid-2000s, and even then the genre wasn't completely dead either and even had some good franchises established in that time.

This is a good point, but I think the main reason why fighters dwindled at the time is because online multi-player just wasn't really "there" yet the way it is now.

 

[Retroviews]

I played Hotshot Racing recently and it was a fun experience. It could only have a little less rubberbanding. Great for shorter sessions.

In a world where more than 10,000 games come out on Steam per year, I think there's room for everything. What happens is that some genres no longer receive as much attention as they used to.

 

[ouyrtuy]

So this is something I've been wondering about for a while, and I don't really have an answer for.

"Arcade-style" racing games seem to have fallen off the face of the Earth over the last decade or so. We used to have series like Burnout, Ridge Racer, Need for Speed, OutRun, etc. As recently as the 2000s some of these were considered system sellers. But over the last few years these games have stopped releasing, or attempts to bring them back have been mixed at best. What we're left with is casual/party racing games (like Mario Kart) on one end, and realistic driving sims (like Gran Turismo) on the other. The only market that seems to service this audience is indies with titles like Hotshot Racing and Horizon Chase Turbo.

Did gamers just lose interest in the racing genre? I thought it was a multi-player issue, but fighting games have made a strong comeback. Attempts have been made to add "open-world" and "RPG" elements to racing games, which have largely failed. Why do you think this genre lost so much relevance?

We're still getting arcade racers such as NFS Unbound, DiRT 5, Grid Legends, and FH5. Soon, we'll be getting Wreckfest 2, Tokyo Xtreme Racer, and probably new NFS and Forza Horizon titles.

What do I think happened? I assume publishers lost interest in the genre since it's not as profitable to them. Some decided to focus on making these games online-only service games, such as The Crew Motorfest and Test Drive Unlimited. Of course, Forza Horizon can be included on the list, but what I like about it is that you can play it offline. I also heard that there are plenty of f2p mobile racing games.

In conclusion, the genre is still alive, but it's not as wild as it used to be.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

So this is something I've been wondering about for a while, and I don't really have an answer for.

"Arcade-style" racing games seem to have fallen off the face of the Earth over the last decade or so. We used to have series like Burnout, Ridge Racer, Need for Speed, OutRun, etc. As recently as the 2000s some of these were considered system sellers. But over the last few years these games have stopped releasing, or attempts to bring them back have been mixed at best. What we're left with is casual/party racing games (like Mario Kart) on one end, and realistic driving sims (like Gran Turismo) on the other. The only market that seems to service this audience is indies with titles like Hotshot Racing and Horizon Chase Turbo.

Did gamers just lose interest in the racing genre? I thought it was a multi-player issue, but fighting games have made a strong comeback. Attempts have been made to add "open-world" and "RPG" elements to racing games, which have largely failed. Why do you think this genre lost so much relevance?

From what I've seen normies want realism and as we all know publishers arent interested in making games that dont cost 80 trilion to make
Every time I go somewhere where they have a ps or xbox it's always forza or fifa, even if they're playing it on an led on a wireless controller with game mode off so its got 500 frames of lag they love realism more than they love theit moder. So why should they finance anything else?

Arcade style racers will probabkly forever be nieche from now on, and plenty of quality ones have been made so I dont really mind

However I do wish eventually some small studio will make something that can rival burnout 3 and paradise